sirius-xm shady business practices

[B-O-B'03]

So, last November they send some mail letting me know the credit card I have on file was expired and I needed to update it for my coming renewal in January.

The cost was $595.47 and I was not interested in renewing, so I just blew it off.

I checked my credit card statement today, before paying it off and noticed that, even though the card on file with sirius-xm had expired, they still managed to charge my account :mj:

I called my credit card company to dispute it and they got a rep from sirius-xm on the line, who said the standard BS, "why do you want to leave... oh it is too much $? we can offer you a better deal... blah, blah, blah".

I told them to just give me my $ back and we could part ways amicably... she started telling my I would have a credit with them to spend at a future date... um no, you fraudulently charged my account, I did not provide you with updated information, give it back.

The guy from the credit card company was on the line at the same time and said "let her do what ever she needs to do... we will make it right on our end"

So, I ended up getting it corrected but it makes me wonder... what is the point of expiring credit cards if vendors can just change the dates in their system and charge you anyway?

Be careful out there.

-Brian

 

[Torch10th]

Company's can legally add time to your card expiration in order to fulfill a contract you have with them. They didn't actually do anything fraudulent here. You wrongfully assumed that you didn't need to cancel your contract to avoid a charge.

The credit card company did a chargeback for you, but it should be noted that there's nothing to stop Sirius/XM from disputing that chargeback on the basis of a contract. Their contract or terms of use can be found here.

http://www.siriusxm.com/pdf/siriusxm_customeragreement_eng.pdf

This is why it's so important to actually read these things, but nobody does. I did a cursory skim of them and the key parts missed where that use of service is agreement with the terms and that if you setup a subscription it will auto-renew at current rates until cancelled by you.

Knowing Sirius, a dispute of the chargeback wouldn't surprise me.

 

[Torch10th]

.

 

[R.D.P.]

$595.47?? Was that for 10 years?

 

[usmcsvtwannabe]

^I was thinking the same thing

 

[thomas91169]

**** Sirius/XM. I bought my Genesis on Jan 1st and get calls every other day from new phone numbers from them asking to setup XM on my car. I used to just laugh at them like "yeah, I just use pandora/spotify, **** you and FM radio" but that was only funny for like the first three calls. Now its just annoying.

 

[G04cobra]

It should also be noted that your card issuer probably sells your updated CC info to Sirius. Programs similar to this one: https://www.chasepaymentech.com/account_updater.html keeps subscription based businesses from losing potential revenue. From a business perspective, people will file chargebacks against these charges, but the benefit of the incoming renewals outweighs the cost of chargebacks.

 

[LS2GTO]

So let me get this straight...you didn't bother cancelling a recurring charge (which you agreed to) and then you got upset when the company recharged your credit card as in the contract? And then you had the balls to say that they illegally made this charge?

If I was the sirius rep I would've laughed in your face and would've told your credit card company "good luck" in disputing a charge that the customer clearly agreed to and never bothered to cancel.

 

[03Sssnake]

They called relentlessly when I did not renew after the first 6 mos on my 2014 were up. I got them down to a great rate for an additional 6 mos etc, but refused to give them my card over the phone. I told them to mail me an invoice and I would xfer from my bank...glad I did....

 

[thomas91169]

**** Sirius/XM. I bought my Genesis on Jan 1st and get calls every other day from new phone numbers from them asking to setup XM on my car. I used to just laugh at them like "yeah, I just use pandora/spotify, **** you and FM radio" but that was only funny for like the first three calls. Now its just annoying.

 

[Stinger2011]

I had a somewhat similar situation with Hughes net. I had the Internet cut off since I don't use it anymore on the computer, but they would not shut my account down permanently. They would only do it for six months and then start charging me again for it after the six months even though it wasn't being used. I had to finally get a lawyer involved.

 

[13COBRA]

Company's can legally add time to your card expiration in order to fulfill a contract you have with them. They didn't actually do anything fraudulent here. You wrongfully assumed that you didn't need to cancel your contract to avoid a charge.

The credit card company did a chargeback for you, but it should be noted that there's nothing to stop Sirius/XM from disputing that chargeback on the basis of a contract. Their contract or terms of use can be found here.

http://www.siriusxm.com/pdf/siriusxm_customeragreement_eng.pdf

This is why it's so important to actually read these things, but nobody does. I did a cursory skim of them and the key parts missed where that use of service is agreement with the terms and that if you setup a subscription it will auto-renew at current rates until cancelled by you.

Knowing Sirius, a dispute of the chargeback wouldn't surprise me.

Perfectly stated.

 

[Torch10th]

I had a somewhat similar situation with Hughes net. I had the Internet cut off since I don't use it anymore on the computer, but they would not shut my account down permanently. They would only do it for six months and then start charging me again for it after the six months even though it wasn't being used. I had to finally get a lawyer involved.

This is a true unauthorized charge. Once you cancel or close your account, the contract becomes void and it's then unlawful for the company to charge the payment facility. In this case, the OP didn't cancel his account so Sirius was well within their legal pounds to collect the payment.

In fact thinking on this, they may still be depending on what was said on his phone call. If he didn't ask for cancellation and didn't get a confirmation of cancellation, there's nothing stopping Sirius from sending him invoices for services rendered. They've been known to then send these to collections if they go unpaid.

I don't disagree that SiriusXM is a shit company, but at least in this situation, OP didn't do his due diligence.

 

[Torch10th]

double post #65,000 today.

 

[black99lightnin]

so he hasn't how in the hell does he have a $595 bill with Sirius.

 

[SirShaun]

They auto renewed me with an expired card as well. Luckily I caught it on the day of. They refunded my money and offered me the promo price again which I took as it was dirt cheap. I have it wrote down on my Bill spreadsheet when I need to cancel lol.

They recently got smacked around in court for being so difficult to cancel and charging people.
http://www.newsms.fm/sirius-xm-radio-paying-mississippians-settle-lawsuit-state/
http://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/consumer/call-12-for-action/2014/12/04/siriusxm-fined-million-consumer-fraud-case/19902671/

 

[AAG]

You were too lazy to call them to cancel your renewal and you get mad because they charged you what you agreed to? Do you do the same thing when your insurance renewal goes up and dont like the price?

 

[RedRocketMike]

If the card expired during the term of his previous contract being active then I am surprised they were able to get a charge through. No company has ever been able to pull that off with any of my American Express cards.

 

[SHOdown220]

I have a free 6 month subscription for Sirius (came with the car), I've never even pressed the Sirius button. But they still send me crap all the time to renew

 

[ford fanatic]

I love Sirius XM, been with them for almost ten years. No issues.